Water Therapy for Horses
Based on the therapeutic use of cold seawater over the centuries, equine water therapy, or hydrotherapy, serves as a positive anti-inflammatory. Hydrotherapy relieves discomfort with the use of water and soothes sore muscles and joints, rehabilitates injured limbs, lowers fevers and promotes relaxation. Swimming benefits horses by conditioning the cardiovascular and muscular systems without straining joints or subjecting legs to concussion.
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History
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Seawater has been beneficial in treating and preventing horse leg injuries for centuries. Around the mid-19th century, inventors began producing devices to replicate health benefits of cold-water immersion after observing improvements in injured racehorses undergoing hydrotherapy. Hydrotherapy treatments are implemented as simply as a cold water hosing or as elaborately as a specially designed swimming pool.
Types
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Cold-water hosing cools the skin surface to reduce swelling but may not penetrate to the underlying injuries. Ten to 15 minutes is sufficient for water treatment when applied from a few feet away. This is a common form of hydrotherapy, though the crudest form because of a lack of temperature control.
Icing provides a concentrated cold response, stimulating results. Applying ice for 15 to 20 minutes has the best effect and does not override beneficial effects of the healing process.
Cold-water spas have undergone major advances in the last 20 years. University of Sydney Associate Professor E.R. Hunt documented positive results in a wide range of leg injuries during his hydrotherapy study trials. Seawater hydrotherapy spas use salt water with a significant natural anti-inflammatory effect.
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Treatable Conditions
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Equine hydrotherapy treats conditions such as tendon injuries, wounds and cuts, fractures and splints, degenerative joint diseases, poor hoof growth and laminitis. Hydrotherapy promotes healing after castration as well. Joint pain reduces recovery time from a matter of weeks or months to a matter of days. Equine hydrotherapy has gained so much popularity than horse owners frequently dedicate barn space for just this purpose.
Benefits
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Providing some form of hydrotherapy after strenuous rides reduces inflammation and increases muscle flexibility. It is most beneficial when concentrated on a specific area. Hydrotherapy increases circulation while reducing muscle and joint soreness.
Warnings
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Avoid hydrotherapy treatment with horses suffering from bleeding wounds, intense swelling, low respiration, high fevers, yeast infections or fungal infections. During cold-water hosing, never direct a hard jet of water directly at a laceration or bruise.
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